Fennville Schools asking for $23M bond

The Fennville Board of Education unanimously voted in favor of putting the bond on the ballot at a special meeting Aug. 7. The bond primarily focuses on addressing building, facility and site issues.

Erin. Dietzer @hollandsentinel.com, (616) 546-4231 @SentinelErin

Voters in Fennville will decide whether or not to approve a $23 million bond proposal for Fennville Public Schools on the Tuesday, Nov. 7, ballot.

The Fennville Board of Education unanimously voted in favor of putting the bond on the ballot at a special meeting Aug. 7. The bond primarily focuses on addressing building, facility and site issues.

“If approved by the voters, this bond proposal would touch every student in every part of our school district,” Fennville Board of Education President Dave Johnson said. “It would address many of the older mechanical issues in buildings that are more than 40 years old, and it would also provide the newest technology resources for our students. The project would extend the life and improve the operations of our buildings, enabling them to continue serving the community well into the future.”

The new bond would add approximately 2.55 mills to the millage rate for the first year. A mill is 1/1000 of a dollar. Property taxes are computed by multiplying the taxable value of the property by the number of mills levied, so a house with a taxable value of $100,000 would pay an additional $255.

Fennville's last bond was approved in 2004, which financed the construction of a new elementary school, remodeling the middle school and high school, construction of an athletic center, and other building improvements.

The current millage rate from that bond is 4.45 mills, lower than the originally approved millage of 5.61 mills. It is projected that, if approved by voters, the new bond would add approximately 2.55 mills to the millage rate for the first year, for a total of 7 mills.

Fennville has made it a point to reduce the tax burden on voters. The 2004 bond has been refinanced three times in 2007, 2012 and in January 2017. That refinancing has saved voters nearly $3 million. The board refinanced the district’s $25.7 million bond in 2007 and 2012, saving about $1.8 million.

“Even with this proposed increase, Fennville would still maintain one of the lower debt millage rates in the area," Johnson said.

"We want to make better use of our site," Greydanus said. "We run into parking and flow issues and some of those become safety issues, so we want to make sure our site is safe, too."

The bond would affect all buildings on Fennville's school campus. Secure building entryways, site work to improve vehicular traffic flow and parking and upgrades to technology and computer network infrastructure work would be done on all buildings. Incoming Superintendent Jim Greydanus said that there are about 50 upgrades they've been looking at, like updating the fire alarm system and phone system at the high school.

Fennville Elementary would get playground improvements, and the middle school would get a new roof. The 42-year-old high school would have worn out components — such as doors, lighting, mechanical controls and equipment, flooring and classroom cabinetry — replaced. A fitness and weight room addition and upgrades for the auditorium are also planned.

The bond also includes an addition at the Community Athletic Center to expand the lobby and improve access to locker rooms and restrooms. The bond also calls for a new transportation facility relocated to the north side of campus. The existing transportation building would be demolished to expanding parking.

Construction of new baseball and softball fields would also be done, and a new multi-purpose field and a new multi-purpose building would be constructed to use for sports and band practices and competitions, physical education classes and community use. The existing running track would be resurfaced and expanded to eight lanes from the current six lanes. Greydanus said eight lanes are now used for competitive track, so it makes more sense to expand rather than simply resurface the six.

Further information on the bond is available at fennville.org.

— Follow this reporter on Twitter @SentinelErin.

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